TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- We all know how Alabama football works. Coach Nick Saban falls out of bed and is surrounded by five-star players. No matter how far down the depth chart you go, the Crimson Tide is stocked with more talent than a Victoria’s Secret catalog.
That is the conventional wisdom, and it’s right as far as it goes. But there’s more to football than winning Signing Day, and if No. 5 Alabama’s 25-20 toppling of No. 1 Mississippi State proved nothing else, it’s that Saban and his staff are as good at developing talent as they are at finding it.
That’s how the Crimson Tide took control of the SEC West and surely earned entry into the top four of the College Football Playoff selection committee ranking. Alabama defeated a top-ranked team for the first time in three tries in Tuscaloosa, and the Bulldogs, with a stirring comeback from a 19-0 deficit, might have saved their spot in the top four as well.
“This is a really good football team that we played today,” Saban said. “They’re really hard to stop, and I think our defense did a fantastic job holding them to what we did.”
Take a look at the stars of the Crimson Tide’s victory Saturday before 101,821 suddenly hearing-impaired fans at raucous Bryant-Denny Stadium. We will get to fifth-year senior quarterback Blake Sims, who would win the FBS Most Improved Award if it existed. But Saban’s four national championships -- one at LSU, and three here -- have been built on defense.
His expertise is the secondary, and Saban’s assembly line has produced one high draft choice after another: Kareem Jackson to Javier Arenas to Dre Kirkpatrick to Mark Barron to Dee Milliner to Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. Saban’s secondaries are so good that it frees up the defensive front to go aggressively after the quarterback, which is why the head coach has such a nice collection of No. 1 rings.
But this season’s secondary, after safetyLandon Collins, doesn’t have players who will be hugging it out with Roger Goodell. What it does have, like Sims, is a bunch of guys who have improved a lot since Clint Trickett of West Virginia torched them for 365 yards in the opener.
Take junior corner Cyrus Jones, listed at 5-foot-10, 194 pounds, who spent most of the day climbing up Mississippi State’s 6-foot-5 wide receiver, De'Runnya Wilson. The sophomore caught eight passes for 91 yards, but Jones kept the damage minimal.
Jones played wide receiver at Baltimore Gilman, and played wide receiver for the Tide two years ago. A year ago, Saban moved Jones to corner to plug a talent drain to the NFL. Jones became the best of an inexperienced group of corners, which is not to say he played to the standard set by his predecessors. But he hung in there, and now has arrived.
“You don’t have to get told you’ve done it,” Jones said. “You can just see and feel how your team gravitates to you and how they look to you to make plays when the time comes … I trust my coaches, especially Coach Saban. He believed in me. It’s hard not to believe in yourself when somebody like that has that much confidence in you.
Sophomore Eddie Jackson, also thrown onto the field last season, is playing very well, too, and it should be noted the two games he missed earlier this season because of injury included the 23-17 loss at Ole Miss.
Anyone who tells you they knew 12 months ago, six months ago, even three months ago, that Sims could lead Alabama to a 9-1 record is a liar. Lest we forget, Sims was such a talented quarterback recruit that Saban played him at running back for two seasons. Saban’s hot pursuit of Florida State transfer Jake Coker during the offseason indicates the confidence the coaching staff had in him.
But Sims, thanks to the remarkable tutelage of offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin -- yes, that Lane Kiffin -- has evolved into a credible passer whose running skills make him especially dangerous.
A week ago, Sims led Alabama on that breakneck last-minute drive to get the field goal to send the LSU game into overtime. Sims’ best work Saturday came in the fourth quarter, after Mississippi State dominated the third quarter and closed within 19-13 with 14:16 to play.
Sims led the Tide on a 15-play, 76-yard drive that ate 6:07 and ended in a touchdown. Three times on the drive, Sims converted a third down, each one longer than the next (5, 8 and 10 yards). The first one, he went through his progressions and dumped the ball off to T.J. Yeldon for 8 yards. The last two, he scrambled for 10 and 11 yards, knowing exactly where the chains were and getting out of bounds.
You could see the Bulldogs defense’s shoulders droop after the last one, which resulted in a first down at the Mississippi State 29. Yeldon ran the ball the next four plays to get into the end zone, and the Crimson Tide had enough cushion to win.
“We made big-time plays at the right time,” Sims said. “The defense made a great stand for us to have that drive.”
Alabama won by dominating field position -- thank you, punter JK Scott -- forcing Mississippi State to start its first 10 possessions at an average of its 18-yard line. The Tide defense scuffed up the shiny reputation of Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott. His numbers ended up looking good: Prescott threw for 290 yards and rushed for 82. But the 6-foot2, 230-pound junior threw 3 interceptions, two in the red zone, that dug a hole too deep for the Bulldogs to escape.
“He’s definitely a big dude, probably one of the biggest backs we’ve played, even though he’s a quarterback,” Alabama defensive end Jonathan Allen said of Prescott. “You got to bring your big-boy pants for a game like this. He’s not going to go down with the first hit.”
Prescott’s Heisman Trophy candidacy took a hit, as did the Bulldogs’ drive to reach the College Football Playoff. They remain first alternate to win the SEC West should Alabama lose the Iron Bowl on Nov. 29.
The conventional wisdom says Alabama has the better players. But they didn’t just roll out of bed that way.
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